Derby Talk

Derby Talk is a forum for Pinewood Derby, Awana Grand Prix, Kub Kar Rally, Shape N Race Derby, Space Derby, Raingutter Regatta and other similar races where a child and an adult work together to create a race vehicle and a lot of fun and memories

So I talked my way into helping with the 2015 District race (mostly by complaining about the current race)

So I have a few questions. Does anyone have any experience with getting sponsors to donate $$ for the race? If so what do you do for the sponsor (signage? Mention name on flies etc. Allow sponsor to race a car?)

Also what are folks experience with asking each pack to put in some money (in the range of $50). Is this preferable to a fee per scout that the parent pays out of pocket?

Our district is 25.00 for early bird (2 racers 1 best of show) or 30.00 for late fee. Our pack pays for the people to go

So John this is your price per pack? Do you charge only packs that say they are entering scouts?

I think our district has done a suboptimal job for years and I wonder if we are going to have a very poor turn-out. I dont think we need to limit the # per pack. For example, I have been pushing this years district race in my pack (as cubmaster) and I dont have a single leader going (maybe some scout is going but typically if the leaders are not going the others scouts are not).

I was thinking that perhaps making each pack in the district pay X dollars that would encourage them to send scouts (as they have some skin in the game)

We only pay if we go. Our pack sends the 2 fastest cars and we have parents vote in the best of show. As far as sponsors go. I've paid for trophies in the past at sporting events in return for advertisement for my business. So don't be shy to ask some independent contractors for some help. With a banner possibly hanging on the wall or from the track.

Our District invites the 2 top racers and one Best Design from each Den for a total of 15 cars for each Pack. The charge is $7.00 per scout which is $105.00 per Pack. Our Pack pays for the scouts. I have learned we have 17 Packs in our District which totals $1,785.00 for the District. A local High School gives us the gym for free, 2 tracks are donated and the district race is run with volunteers. Trophies are awarded to the top 3 winners in each Den for Best Design and the top 3 winners in each Den for the race category.
We do not ask anyone to sponsor our race.

I took over running our District race this year after attending that last 2 as a participant.

For the last several years we've charged $40 per pack. Only packs sending scouts pay. The pack pays this fee and in exchange the pack can send 6 Scouts to the district race (3 fastest cars for racing division and 3 cars for appearance "best of show" division).

We do not give out trophies per rank to keep costs down. We give out 1st-5th place trophies for racing division and 1st-5th place trophies for best of show division.

I do not have any sponsors, nor have I looked into it.

Not sure how many packs we have in our district, but we have 16 packs that participated in this year's district derby. That gives us a budget of about $640.

With that budget, all we've seen in past years is the 10 trophies (5 for racing, 5 for best in show).

This year, I kept the same trophies we had in previous years and added a custom designed patch that each participant got. I spent about $250 on trophies and $250 on patches. I spent the remainder on supplies and coffee & donuts for the volunteers.

Second year now running District races. We are more like Speedster. Top 3 racers from each Den or top 15 fastest cars for the Pack qualify. Charge is $6 per racers or a total of $90 per pack. We have 24 Packs in the district, but only about half partisipate and not all of those send a full compliment of 15 racers. Total number of racers for last year was 62. Location is provided by one of the Packs in the District. The hosting Pack then gets the right to run the concession at the race as a Pack fundraiser. This earned last years host pack about $350. The event is done as a "Derby Day" and includes three side events ($3 per racer) to help draw more scouts to the event. Side events consist of Outlaw Race (Youth and Adult Divisions), an Einstien Race (another name for Turtle Race) and a Pinewood Demolition Derby. Some side races run at the same time as the official district race. We are hoping to add more and more side events as the Derby Day becomes more popular (a 100 foot track would be interesting). Custom event patches are given out to everyone and trophies are awarded to the top 3 racers in each Den, the top 3 district champions, and the top three winners of each side event (lots of trophies make for a fun event). We do not ask anyone to sponsor the event; however, we have been approached by a car dealership that would like to assist with the event.

I finally got my district to agree to a District race last year, but the turn out was not that good - 20 total from all 5 ranks, when we asked to limit to 3 per rank per pack. Everybody said the event was great (despite the turnout) and wanted me to do it again this year. As my youngest is now a Web2 (will be crossing over in 1.5 weeks), this may be my last year either way.

We did not have sponsors last year, and charged $5 per scout. With the low turnout, after buying a trophies (bought too many), we actually lost money. I hoped to be able to have a custom patch or medal to give to everybody, but couldn't get it done with the low turnout. We are 2 months away and currently have 6 signed up, if it picks up, I may check with the district about having some sponsors, as it would help defray some of the costs to (hopefully) provide something for each scout to take home.

Our district has 3 different races. Open scout, All comers, and ranked scout. Open scout is for any scout that didn't win at their pack derby and the winner earns a spot to race with the ranked scouts for the grand championship. All comers is basically non-scouts siblings and any adults. Last year at least this pretty much amounted to a few girl scouts. Both those groups pay an entry fee. For the ranked scout division all pack winners are invited and they do not pay an entry fee. I believe that was enough to cover the cost of awards but I am not privy to the finances.

I like the idea of getting sponsors. I think in the past a car dealership has sponsored or hosted the event. If there was more participation I think they'd also be able to give out more trophies. I think only 1-3 plus best in show got a trophy. Seeing some of the bigger districts or council events with high turn out they usually also able to give awards to more kids.

I can give you all feedback now. I asked about 10-12 businesses. Loews have me $100. Home Depot gave me a Dremell as a door prize. Got a gift card for frozen yogurt and some spray paint. Then I made the Citroen that I posted for a friend and he gave us $200. My pack is going to donate the trophies as we had a great popcorn year and I am going to donate the cost of custom patches. So we have all the costs covered. Going to get some nice trophies and hope for the best turn out. We are not asking the packs to pay anything although I wanted to. The district decided against it.
Noskills

District race last Sat went off without a hitch. Our sponsors covered all costs and we made $350 in entry fees for next year. The door prizes were a big hit and kids seemed to have fun. Going host it one more time then were out!
Noskills